Tracing Family roots

[ckelly327]

I originally started to do mine by myself about 10 years ago when I could still get some information from my grandmother while she was alive. While doing research at various cemetaries in New England I was surprised to find the number of babies and infants who had died and the current family never knew about them. It was sad but enlightening. These were mostly first generation Irish in the states who seemed to have 10 or 11 kids but only 7 would survive to adulthood. Then there was the shock that my saintly grandmother was born less than 8 months after her parents got married but that's a whole other can of worms.

I've still only found reliable info back to the 1750's but I haven't even tried to contact any authority in Ireland yet. It's about time to start up again.

[Cawdorian]

Genealogy is one my passions, the LDS records are not very accurate and do not make a good source. Many of the genealogies you see posted on the internet contain many mistakes.

Documentation is the key to accurate information, I recently got a wake up call on my own family line that I thought was fairly well researched. I received a copy of the death certificates of my GGF & GGM, after looking at my great grandmother's death certificate, I found that some well meaning individual out there on the internet had inserted an entire generation between my GGM and her mother and posted the mistake for the rest of the world to copy. The records and documentation do help solve these mysteries.

There are some good websites out there such as www.rootsweb.com and Stirnet (google that one), but they should be used as a guide, look for transcripts of the US Census and copies of transcribed Civil War and Revolutionary War pension applications. These records are a good source of family history.

Many counties in Virginia and Kentucky have historical societies, they have many family records. I am sure there are other states and counties that have have done an equally good job of gathering and preserving records. Another good source of records are the Clan Associations, many have very good and accurate records. Clan Campbell and the Clan Donald Societies are examples of some who have done a good job. The price of membership costs less than a tank of gas and get you access to a huge amount of information.

There are also some family associations out there that have a lot of records inculding deeds and wills , try doing a google search on your surname or variations thereof (Burns, Burnes, Byrnes or Burness as an example) and see if it turns up a family association.

These are just some suggestion to get you started.

I forget who said they were related to Daniel Boone, if so we must be cousins. I have quite a bit of information on this family, if you are interested, PM me.

[Dirka Skene]

Ha! I couldn't imagine tracing MY family roots. I leave that job to my Uncle and Grandfather. If they told me I was descended from Tanzanian hog sloppers, I'd believe them.

[Scratchy's Lass]

http://www.siol-nan-gaidheal.com/battles.htm

Year Place Location

977 Skida Moor, Caithness - local battle

100*? Skidhamyrr, Caithness - Norsemen attack Scots

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb..../bbattles.html

977 Skida Moor - Caithness - Liotr beat Magbiodr

10th Century Skidhamyrr - Skitten, North West of Wick, Caithness - Two battles between Norsemen of Orkney & the Scots of Moray. Results & Dates unknown

So, I dig up Caithness info, inter alia, here: http://www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/caithnes.htm, and here: http://www.frayston.demon.co.uk/genuki/cai/index.htm, and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caithness

and I finally track down "Liotr"..... but ARGH! There seems nothing to be found via google for "Magbiodr" (whether it be a place-name or a person name). I even hunted through endless sites online pertaining to Scotland-relevant definitions, all manner of relevant dictionaries, and so on.

I've all but given up hope finding out where (specifically in Caithness) "Skidhamyrr" or "Skida Moor" were.... and there's a total dead end trying to attack it from the "Magbiodr" angle. *sigh*

Why, one might ask? Well........... maiden surname is "Skidmore".

As kids we were told by my father (Skidmore) that those ancestors originated from "English criminal(s)" exiled to Australia, and my mother's side of the family (Anderson) were determined to be decended from [UK/British] "sheep herders"

The immediate Skidmore family was "Protestant". My mother's parents and all the way up the immediate line on her side were Catholic. (And no, NEITHER sets of my grandparents could tolerate each other or my respective parents - go figure ) Kinda fits the scenario.....

I have fleeting memories of either my great-grandmother or one of my great-aunts singing Irish lullabies (AND of being told, "Shush. We don't talk about the Irish in the family, dear.")

I actually found online documents indicating a George Skidmore, a "plumber's " labourer" came to on the "Clara", at age 18 having been sentenced in 1852 in "Lewes" (East Sussex) to 7 yrs. incarceration for "Larceny from the person" and arriving in NSW/Western Australia in 1857. But, whether I am of his line, I can't establish yet.

Which takes me all 'round the circle to wanting to know more about the location "Skida Moor"/"Skidhamyrr" - cause the similarity between those place-names and my maiden surname is just too close to leave a mystery.

*searches for a :crazymaking: smilie *

[Celtic Amazon Goddess]

Magbiodr is a name you can find out more about it on this site.....
http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/...h-battles.html

then go to your edit tab and click "select all" then click on" find in this page" then click enter and it will highlight all the place that name appears.
here is what i found by doing that.
under A List of Scottish Battles by Region Including Dates & Other Information
Region- Caithness
Year -0977
Location-Skida Moor
other informaion- Liotr bt Magbiodr
sounds like a name to me, due to the fact that most of the others are names .

hope this helps

[Kilted KT]

And just cause someone else says that you have a connection, doesn't make it so. My mother has been doing our family tree for years, and doesn't believe it unless she has authentic documents in her hand. She has found many errors in other people's reconing. To date my earliest verifiable ancestor is 1664, but some of the fanciful ones get me back to Longshanks (which now gets me kicked off of X-marks)

Adam

don't worry, I'll be with you in exile.

I've managed to validate my liniage back to Fergus MacErca, who died around 404 AD.

Oh, and BMakay, here is your Trump. One of Fergus's decendants in my line was Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Picts. here is his wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_I_of_Scotland

[NewKilt]

I'm really just in the beginning stages of tracing back my roots. On my mother's side my great, great, great, great grandfather, John Kennedy Sr. was born in Scotland around 1730. Immigrated to northern Ireland as a youth because of religious persecution. Then immigrated to New Jersey while the US was still colonies. Captured during the French-Indian War, and sent to prison in France. Released in a prisoner exchange, went to England, married an English lady and returned to New Jersey. His son, John Kennedy Jr., was a British loyalist and moved to Georgetown, Ontario, Canada. A move back to the US (Ohio) eventually took place with my great grandfather, George Benjamin Kennedy.

All I know about my birth father's side at this point is it's German ancestory. It's indeed addicting tracing back your roots.

Darrell

[Mike1]

I've all but given up hope finding out where (specifically in Caithness) "Skidhamyrr" or "Skida Moor" were.... and there's a total dead end trying to attack it from the "Magbiodr" angle. *sigh*

Don't give up yet, you're actually getting closer than you might imagine.

Try using Skitten Moor for your search. I think you will be able to center your search in the area north of a line between Wick and Keiss.

The airfield at Skitten was the base for Operation Freshman. You will do better to use older maps of Scotland in your search.

[gilmore]

Don't give up yet, you're actually getting closer than you might imagine.

Try using Skitten Moor for your search. I think you will be able to center your search in the area north of a line between Wick and Keiss.

The airfield at Skitten was the base for Operation Freshman. You will do better to use older maps of Scotland in your search.

I would VERY strongly advise giving up that line of inquiry.

In genealogy we ALWAYS work from the present backward, NEVER the other way around. Rather than unearthing several place names that are the same as one's last name and then deciding to be decsended from people who lived at one of them, one would be much better served tracing backward from what one knows. It can be tedious, boring and not at all glamorous going through old records, and troublesome sometimes to have to travel great distances to get to them, but there really is no substitute if you want to do sound research that will withstand the scrutiny of others. Otherwise one is just wasting everyone's time with fanciful stories.

If you want to know who your father's ancestors were, the simplest thing is to ask your father, if he is living. Failing that, one goes to the census records, if in the US. You can see them at no cost at the closest federal archives, or you can subscribe to ancestry.com and access them online, up to the 1930 census.

[macwilkin]

You can see them at no cost at the closest federal archives, or you can subscribe to ancestry.com and access them online, up to the 1930 census.

I would add that many public libraries maintain subscriptions for their patrons to use free of charge in their local history & genealogy departments.

T.